JPH0286475A - liquid jet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a liquid jet recording device.

[Prior Art] Liquid jet recording devices (inkjet recording devices) that record information such as characters and images by ejecting recording liquid from a recording head are widely known.

The recording material of this type of device is mainly paper or plastic sheet (hereinafter referred to as recording paper), which has lower operating noise than other recording methods, has a simple basic mechanical structure, and is It has the advantage of being inexpensive and has been adopted in various fields as a recording and output device for computers, word processors, etc.

On the other hand, a recording apparatus using a recording head in which ink ejection ports are arranged in a number corresponding to the entire width of a recording material in the width direction (hereinafter referred to as a line head) has been proposed. Further, a color recording apparatus has been proposed in which a plurality of such recording heads are arranged in correspondence with a plurality of ink colors.

In such a recording device, the recording material is held by electrostatic adsorption on a belt or the like that forms part of the conveyance system, and one or more line heads are arranged along the conveyance path to transport the recording material. It is configured so that monochromatic or color recording is made during the process.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the above-mentioned conventional example, the continuous feeding system of cut paper having a belt-like (strip-like) member is particularly suitable for high-speed recording, but when the belt is driven at high speed, the belt The gap between the recording head and the recording paper tends to change due to vibration, and when the gap becomes small, the recording paper and the recording head may come into contact, causing recording stains and clogging of the ejection ports, and in severe cases, the recording paper may There was a risk that the leading edge would hit the recording head and jamming would occur. Furthermore, even when the gap widens, there is a risk that the deviation in the landing position of the ink on the recording paper due to slight bending when the ink is ejected from the ejection ports is amplified, leading to a decrease in the printing quality.

The present invention aims to solve this problem by suppressing belt vibration.

[Means for Solving the Problems] To this end, the present invention provides a conveying means having a belt-like member that transports a recording material to a recording position by a liquid jet recording head while restraining the recording material, and a recording material restraining surface of the belt-like member. It is characterized by comprising a support member that supports this on the back side.

[Function] According to the present invention, by providing a support member that supports the strip member toward the recording head, vibration of the strip member at a position facing the recording head is suppressed.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the invention.

Here, reference numeral 1 denotes a line head type recording head, and 3,456 ejection ports are provided on the lower surface at intervals of, for example, 16 dots/lnm, and recording with a width of 216 mm is performed line sequentially. In this example, four colors of ink are supported: yellow, cyan, magenta, and black.
Four recording heads, a, lb, lc, and ld, are provided, and each recording head is fixedly supported by a holder 2 so that the intervals between the ejection ports in the recording paper conveyance direction are constant. The head unit composed of these four recording heads and the holder 2 can be moved up and down in the figure by a head moving means 24 comprising a drive source such as a motor and a transmission mechanism such as a gear.

A cap 3 is attached to the orifice surface of the recording head when not recording, and is movable in the X direction by a cap moving means 25 comprising a drive source such as a motor or a transmission mechanism such as a gear. The cap 3 has an ink absorbing member in the form of a sponge, for example, and is configured to receive ink ejection (idle ejection) from the recording head 1 for a recovery operation.

4 is an ink tank corresponding to each recording head, and ink is guided to each recording head 1 (la NHd) via an ink supply tube 5 (58 to 5d).

Here, ink is supplied using capillary reduction of nozzles disposed in the recording head 1, and the ink water head of each ink tank is set a certain distance lower than the ejection port surface.

6 is a seamless belt for conveying recording paper;
The surface is neutralized. Then, the recording paper 27 is
2, and is electrostatically attracted to the belt 6, thereby being reliably conveyed. The belt 6' is rotated by a motor 8 connected to a belt drive roller in a direction to move the recording paper 27 in the X direction. 9 is an idle roller for routing the belt 6, and lO is a tension roller that applies a constant tension to the belt 6. lla
and 11b are pinch rollers that press the recording paper 27 against the belt 6 before and after the charger 12 to strengthen suction; It also functions as a registration roller that is looped within the guide 13 and improves direct attachment to the leading edge of the recording paper in the X direction.

The recording paper 27 is fed out one by one from the cassette 26 by the paper feed roller 16, and then transferred to the conveyance roller! 4 and the pinch roller 15, and guided to the above-mentioned registration roller section. 17 is a cleaning unit, and belt 6
Remove paper dust, etc. on top. Further, reference numeral 18 denotes a paper discharge tray on which recorded recording paper is loaded, and 29 is a belt disposed on the back side of the belt 6 at a portion facing the recording heads Ia to 1d, which regulates displacement of the belt 6 and suppresses vibration. It is a supporting member, and in this example, it is formed into a flat plate shape.

Reference numeral 19 denotes a control circuit that controls each part according to the control procedure shown in the second figure, for example, a CP in the form of a microcomputer.
It can be constructed using a ROM storing a program etc. corresponding to the control procedure shown in the second diagram, a working RAM, etc. 20 is a recording head under the control of the control circuit 19]a~1
21 is a motor driver that also drives the belt drive motor 8, 22 is a charger driver that also drives the charger 12, and 23 is also a transport motor 33 coupled to the transport roller 14. It is a motor driver. Further, the operations of the head moving means 24 and the cap moving means 25 are also controlled by the control circuit 19.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of a recording processing procedure centered on recovery processing, and FIGS. 3(A) to 3(D) are side views of the head unit and the vicinity of the cap during the processing. Explain the operation of the example.

First, FIG. 3 (^) shows the power off state, and the orifice surface 12 where the ejection ports of the recording head 1 are provided is covered with a cap 3 to prevent ink from evaporating from the orifice. .

From this state, when the power is turned on in step Sl in FIG.
m by the head moving means 24 (FIG. 3(B)). In this state, if a dry ejection signal is supplied, ink is ejected a predetermined number of times from all nozzles (dry ejection).
are performed (steps S5 and S7). This blank printing is normally performed when the power is turned on or when approximately 100 records have been recorded with continuous paper feeding, but if uneven recording occurs, the operator manually inputs the start signal by pressing a button. It may be configured so that it can be performed.

Next, in step S9, the cap unit is moved in the opposite direction to the X direction by the cap moving means 25, and is placed in a position where the cap fits between each head (Fig.
)). Then, in step Sit, the head unit is lowered and the ejection port is set at a distance of, for example, about a II11 from the belt surface, that is, at the recording position (see Fig. 3).
D)).

Next, in step S13, the paper feeding motor is turned on,
In response, one sheet of recording paper 27 in the cassette 26 is picked up by the paper feed roller 16, guided by the guide 13, and sandwiched between the conveyance roller 14 and the pinch roller 15. The passage of the leading edge of the recording paper 27 is detected by a photosensor or the like provided just before the registration section, and after the leading edge reaches the registration section, the paper feed motor is turned off after a predetermined time (steps 515 and 517). At this time, the excess recording paper is fed into a loop within the space of the guide 13 formed in the shape of a chevron, and as the recording paper is strained, its leading edge aligns with the registration area, ensuring orthogonality with the transport direction. be done.

Next, in step 519, the belt motor 8 and charger 12 are turned on, and the recording paper 27 is not pressed against the belt 6 by the pinch roller Ha and is guided between the IF electric devices 2 and 2. The charger 12 has, for example, a positive terminal on the upper side and a negative terminal on the lower side, and a potential difference is generated between the belt 6, which has been neutralized immediately before the pinch roller 11a, and the recording paper 27, and the recording paper 27 is charged due to the electrostatic force. It is attracted to the belt 6. In addition, due to pressure contact of pinch roller llb after passing through the charger,
This adsorption becomes more reliable. On the other hand, the feed amount of the recording paper 27 is counted in synchronization with the activation of the belt motor 8, and printing (recording) of each color is performed from the time when the leading edge of the recording paper reaches each recording head 1axld (step 521).
.

The recording paper 27 on which recording has been completed is separated from the belt 6 at the belt drive roller 7 and is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 18 . After the completion of paper ejection is detected in step S23, the belt motor 8 and the charger 12 are moved in step S25.
is off.

Next, in step S27, it is determined whether the series of recordings has been completed.

If the next recording is not performed, the head unit is raised in step S29 (FIG. 3(C)), and the cap unit is set in step S531 (FIG. 3(B)).
)), the head unit is installed in step 533 (FIG. 3(8)), and the power is turned off in step 535.

When recording is performed on the mature recording paper 27, the presence or absence of a dry ejection signal is detected in step S37, and if there is a signal, the head unit is raised in step S39 (see FIG. 3). C)) At step 541, set the cap unit (Fig. 3(B)), at step S4.
In step 3, empty discharge is performed. Thereafter, in step 545, the cap unit is delivered quickly (FIG. 3(C)), and in step 547, the head unit is lowered to the recording position (FIG. 3(D)), and then the paper feed motor is turned on. The same recording sequence for the anterior lobe is repeated.

It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned configurations as long as a line-shaped recording head is used.

For example, in the above example, the number of recording heads is four, corresponding to the ink color, but it goes without saying that the number can be any desired.

Further, as the recovery process, ink is discharged by idle ejection in the above example, but ink may be discharged from the ejection ports by pressurizing the inside of the recording head or reducing pressure inside the cap.

Furthermore, in the above example, a belt and an electrostatic adsorption member were used as means for conveying the recording paper, but it goes without saying that various other methods may be used, such as an air adsorption method using a belt or a method using a drum. stomach.

Additionally, in the above-described embodiments, the belt support member used has a flat contact surface, but it may have any shape as long as it does not adversely affect the adsorption of the recording paper to the belt. .

For example, as shown in FIG. 4, if the cross-sectional shape along the X direction is made convex, vibration can be suppressed more effectively.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, a member is provided that supports the belt that attracts and conveys the recording paper at a position opposite to the recording head on the side opposite to the surface of the recording paper. This suppresses belt vibration, prevents jams caused by fluctuations in the head-to-paper gap, and prevents recording stains caused by contact between the recording head and the recording paper, and prevents deterioration of recording position accuracy due to discharged oil. We were able to achieve a high-quality record that has never been seen before.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of the configuration of the liquid jet recording apparatus of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of a recording processing procedure including ejection recovery processing according to the configuration shown in FIG. 3; (D) is a side view for explaining the sequential movement of the recording head and cap according to this example, and FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing another example of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Recording head, 2... Recording head holder, 3... Cap, 4... Ink tank, 5... Ink supply tube, 6... Belt, 7... Belt drive roller, 8... Motor, 9... Idle roller, IO... Tension roller, 11... Pinch roller, 12... Charger, 13... Guide, 14... Conveyance roller, 15... - Pinch roller, 16... Paper feed roller, 17... Cleaning unit, 18... Paper ejection tray, 19... Control circuit, 20... Head driver, 21... Motor driver, 22. ... Charger driver, 23... Motor driver, 24... Head moving means, 25... Cap moving means, 29... Support member. ward nt eyes

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A conveyance means having a belt-like member that transports a recording material to a recording position by a liquid jet recording head while restraining the recording material, and a conveyance means having a belt-like member that transports the recording material to a recording position by a liquid jet recording head, and a conveying means that has a belt-like member that transports the recording material to a recording position by a liquid jet recording head, and a belt-like member that transports the recording material to a recording position on the back side of the recording material restraining surface of the belt-like member. What is claimed is: 1. A liquid jet recording device comprising: a support member that supports a liquid jet recording device. 2) The liquid jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the support member is arranged at a position on the back side of the recording position.